Jimmy Greenfield, senior community manager of Chicagonow says the website was created for people who weren't reading the Chicago Tribune.
“So Chicagonow is coming up about five years old. ... It was created as a way to capitalize on, initially this large group of people who we thought maybe wasn't reading the Tribune,” Greenfield said.
Chicagonow is a website that allows journalists or talented writers to express their opinions on various topics, Greenfield said. Last month ChicagoNow reached 11 million pages views and became the biggest Tribune website, he said.
“We soft launch in May of 2009 and our official launch was in August of that year,” he said.
Greenfield said ChicagoNow started out recruiting and monitoring bloggers, but eventually opened its site to people who wanted to market themselves, he said.
“We started out with about six blogs or so. We grew to 20 and then we realized … it wasn’t something we needed to control,” Greenfield said.
Greenfield says he looks for bloggers who are not only serious but also passionate about their topic.
“I look at the person’s interest and passion and idea far more than the topic,” he said.
“We soft launch in May of 2009 and our official launch was in August of that year,” he said.
Greenfield said ChicagoNow started out recruiting and monitoring bloggers, but eventually opened its site to people who wanted to market themselves, he said.
“We started out with about six blogs or so. We grew to 20 and then we realized … it wasn’t something we needed to control,” Greenfield said.
Greenfield says he looks for bloggers who are not only serious but also passionate about their topic.
“I look at the person’s interest and passion and idea far more than the topic,” he said.
Over the years Greenfield said he learned about the types of bloggers.
“There are two kinds of bloggers, there are bloggers who blog and there are bloggers who don’t blog,” he said.
“There are two kinds of bloggers, there are bloggers who blog and there are bloggers who don’t blog,” he said.
As a sports fan, Greenfield said the best sports blogger are those who are opinionated and dig deep into their team.
“You can’t be afraid of taking on the manager. You can't be afraid of taking on other columnists in the news,” Greenfield said.
“What I look for are people who analyze what’s happening within the team, are writing about events, giving their opinion about it and aren’t afraid to give their opinion,” he said.
One thing Greenfield suggests sports bloggers not do is emulate a sports writer or a beat writer, he said. That’s being done, Greenfield said.
“As far as blogging goes, write a blog that is not doing what everyone else is doing,” Greenfield said. The goal is to gain credibility and become a commodity that people value, he said.
With sports being a 24-hour cycle, Greenfield said there’s always something to post and a sports blogger should never say, ‘There’s nothing to write about.’ Stuff happens all the time and a blogger can publish five times a day, he said.
“You can’t be afraid of taking on the manager. You can't be afraid of taking on other columnists in the news,” Greenfield said.
“What I look for are people who analyze what’s happening within the team, are writing about events, giving their opinion about it and aren’t afraid to give their opinion,” he said.
One thing Greenfield suggests sports bloggers not do is emulate a sports writer or a beat writer, he said. That’s being done, Greenfield said.
“As far as blogging goes, write a blog that is not doing what everyone else is doing,” Greenfield said. The goal is to gain credibility and become a commodity that people value, he said.
With sports being a 24-hour cycle, Greenfield said there’s always something to post and a sports blogger should never say, ‘There’s nothing to write about.’ Stuff happens all the time and a blogger can publish five times a day, he said.
“There is no limit to what you can write about in any sport, especially baseball during the season,” he said.
Greenfield is knowledgeable about baseball . In 1991 his first job was getting scores for the Chicago Sun-Times and writing small stories, he said. He also covered baseball for the Tribune in 1999 and he has covered the Chicago White Sox for MLB.com in 2002, he said.
Greenfield is knowledgeable about baseball . In 1991 his first job was getting scores for the Chicago Sun-Times and writing small stories, he said. He also covered baseball for the Tribune in 1999 and he has covered the Chicago White Sox for MLB.com in 2002, he said.
His love for baseball eventually led him to write a book, he said.
“I wrote a book a couple of years ago called ‘100 Things Cubs Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die’,” Greenfield said.
Greenfield encourages every blogger to build a social media audience, especially on Facebook, he said.
“Twitter is a lot fun and it’s great, but it’s so hard to ... turn into a traffic driver,” Greenfield said.
“As far as putting your blog in front of people: Focus on Facebook, for sure,” he said
Greenfield encourages every blogger to build a social media audience, especially on Facebook, he said.
“Twitter is a lot fun and it’s great, but it’s so hard to ... turn into a traffic driver,” Greenfield said.
“As far as putting your blog in front of people: Focus on Facebook, for sure,” he said
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